RAVICHANDRAN ASHWIN: WORLD’S NUMBER ONE TEST ALL-ROUNDER

15-Feb-2017

Ravichandran Ashwin has become the fastest bowler to reach 250 wickets. He surpassed the former legend Dennis Lillee’s record by completing three matches faster than him. He broke the records last year for India by picking up 72 wickets in 12 Test matches. Thus, he became the world’s highest wicket-taker for the second consecutive year.

On the 4th day of the one-off test between India and Bangladesh, the 30-year-old accomplished the milestone when he claimed Mushfiqur Rahim’s wicket. Thus Ashwin’s 250th test victim became Mushfiqur Rahim. Ashwin became the world’s second fastest bowler to claim 200 test wickets in September last year during the first test against New Zealand by beating Waqar Younis and Lillee.

Ashwin accomplished this milestone in his 37th Test match, surpassing Waqar and Lillee, both of whom took 38 tests. The topper in this category is Clarrie Grimmett, the former Australian leg-spinner, who took only 36 Tests to reach the 200th wicket mark.

Ashwin’s batting has also been great. In 2016, he had scored 612 runs in 14 innings at an average of 43.71 with 204 half-centuries. So, it’s obvious that Ashwin is the world’s number one Test all-rounder.